Photography Tips by Ali Khataw - Day 1

Sunday, June 18, 2017
Hiba Moeen
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"A camera is an instrument that teaches people to see without a camera." - Dorothea Lange

You all ought to learn photography for it helps capture moments and freezes them into memories. A camera is indeed an innocuous weapon of mass creativity if used sensibly.Thanks to the digital era, most of us have the ease of access towards capturing what we would like to keep a record of and with the advent of digital cameras life has definitely become easier. I remember I was quite surprised back in 2002 when we got to know that mobile phones now have cameras embedded in them. Fast forward it to a few years and you see such a vast variety of gadgets available. You have to have a keen sense of observation and a knack for photography to be able to capture the right moment. A camera is merely an instrument that helps you preserve that observation, though one can't deny the fact that a good camera is undoubtedly an essential instrument.So today we have a guest post by an expert photographer, Ali Khataw, whose work is quite astonishing to say the least. You can get amazed by his superb photography on his Facebook page at Ali Khataw's Photography. I really admire the fact that he's got some gems related to wildlife photography.

Here's the first post by him from a series of tutorials that Ali will be sharing over the course of a few days!

And voila look at this:

Below is what he has to share about this picture:

I am willing to
commit that I will post 10 images in the next 10 days with
the angle of coaching you on certain photographic procedures or
photography tips. I will also provide you with 10 questions to ask
yourself before you press the shutter, by doing so you will slow
yourself down and will not just "Click" but actually concentrate and
"Make" an image.

So, let today be Day 1 ...

Top 10 Questions to ask yourself before you make an image:

Question 1/ Day 1 - IS THIS THE IMAGE I WANT TO MAKE? WHY?

Image 1/Day 1: SHUTTER SPEED
Sitting in the safari vehicle in Masai Mara - Kenya, I was observing
this lion for nearly an hour and noticed that he would periodically wake
up from his sleep and then rotate his mane to dust off the irritating
flies. So, then I thought to myself how do I capture this amazing
dynamic effect and yet keep the lions face in focus. I then set my
camera on a bean bag at the roof of the vehicle and composed the image
in such a way so the face of the lion was right in the middle of the
frame (least rotation). Then I set the camera to "Shutter Priority"
since my ultimate goal was to create an image that was "Dynamic" and had
a sense of motion. The result is what you see below.

So, the message is to use slower shutter speeds to capture motion. Just
make sure you are using a tripod to avoid any shake. The effect of
slower shutter speed is gorgeous on moving water, it gives the effect of
angel hair!

Hope you found this helpful! Stay tuned for tomorrow when we will discuss "APERTURE and DEPTH OF FIELD"!